Terry Hoening was a happy race promoter Friday night. For the first time this season on one of his scheduled race nights at the Lee County Speedway there was no chance of rain, the temperature was in the mid-seventies and there was no wind to speak of. It truly was a perfect night for dirt track racing and a good-sized crowd was treated to a near perfect night of racing highlighted by a thrilling finish in the IMCA Modified main event.
The one thing that kept it from being a perfect night was a scary accident that occurred in the first heat race for the IMCA Modifieds. Lonne Heap had jumped out to a comfortable lead while the other seven cars raced in a tight formation well behnd him. Suddenly something broke on Heap's #90 as he exited turn two and he slowed to the high side going down the back stretch. With cars racing three-wide and quickly closing Dennis LaVeine tried to get down the track at the last moment, but just couldn't miss Heap's coasting car and the contact sent Heap into a double barrel roll while LaVeine came to a sudden stop. Thankfully both drivers crawled out of their cars under their own power and after some extra attention for Heap from the ambulance crew, both drivers were confirmed to be okay despite the hard contact.
The IMCA Stock Cars were the first of five features on the card tonight and with most of the thirteen car field capable of winning you knew that this would be a good one. Pole-sitter Jeremy Pundt edged ahead of fellow front row occupant Corey Strothman in turn one only to have Strothman answer back out of turn four to lead lap one by a nose. As Pundt did his best to ward off the challenges of Cale Samberg for second, Strothman gradually built up a lead. The gap continued to grow as the battle for second became more intense featuring three-wide racing seemingly every lap. Matt Greiner had started in the sixth row and with four laps remaining he moved into the second spot, but by then Strothman was too far gone and would not be caught as the driver who is now tabbed as "Rock Star" cruised in for the win. Greiner settled for second ahead of tenth-starting Jeff Mueller, Samberg held down fourth and Ryan Cook filled out the top five.
Next up were the IMCA Sport Mods for their fifteen lap finale with Jacob Smith pacing the field on lap one. Rodger Dresden had started third, right behind Smith and he didn't waste anytime moving around Jacob to become the new leader on lap two. It was a similar story to the Stock Cars as while the battle for second waged on, the leader Dresden opened up a healthy advantage until Jim Gillenwater moved into second after starting eighth. The lead was shrinking as the laps wound down and as the white flag waved Gillenwater was within striking distance, but Dresden held tough on the final circuit and held off Gillenwater by two car-lengths as the Keokuk drivers went on-two on the finish. Dean Kratzer would chase tonight's version of the Komets in for third with Joe Bliven and Jeff Mueller next in line. Mueller made a nice recovery after pitting for a flat tire early in the race.
The start of the four cylinder Wild Things feature was definitely "wild" as outside front row starter Casey Mahaffey got turned sideways in front of the field coming below the flagstand. Somehow Mahaffey recovered and everybody scrambled for racing room allowing Mahaffey to actually come back around and lead lap one before the right front tire went flat on his #66. This handed over the lead to David Helenthal with Nick Wilkerson in hot pursuit as both drivers bolted from row six to the front in just two laps. The chase was on now as Wilkerson stayed right with Helenthal throughout the remainder of the twelve-lap event and as the leaders executed the final set of turns they had to deal with a lapped car. Helenthal look as though he might get trapped as Wilkerson aimed his car for the bottom line, but Helenthal found just enough room to edge out his prime challenger by a car length at the stripe. Darin Smith picked his way to the front in a more methodical fashion coming from row seven to take third, Chuck Fullenkamp was fourth and Bill Michel finished fifth.
The race track definitely held its moisture tonight so the remaining thirteen Modifieds were flying around the 3/8-mile oval during their twenty-lap main event. Last week's feature winner Dustin Crear grabbed the lead at the outset and put a few car lengths on the second place car of Wyatt Lantz. Of course whenever you are at the Lee County Speedway the guy who is always worth the price of admission when the track is tacky is Josh Foster and tonight was proof of that. Racing on just two hours sleep after a tough night at the Hawkeye Dirt Tour event in Cresco the previous evening, Foster was on the fly moving from tenth up to third before the caution waved with six laps remaining for Derek Hamm who had spun in turn two. On the restart Crear still looked strong while Lantz and Foster raced wheel-to-wheel behind him for second. Foster cleared Lantz with two to go and then closed up the lead on Crear diving to the inside of the leader into turn three. Foster slid up the track to complete the slider, but Dustin pointed his car down low off of turn four and the two took the white flag in a virtual dead heat. Entering turn one it looked as though Crear had the advantage, but Foster is magic on the cushion here and he blasted off of it exiting turn two to take the lead and soon the win in a thrilling fashion. Crear can hold his head high with this runner-up finish while Lantz looked good all night in third. Brandon Banks drove his day glow yellow "nuclear banana" #22 in for fourth and Brandon Savage came from thirteenth to finish fifth. In victory lane Foster acknowledged that he loves a "hammer down cushion track" and then stated "I haven't had that much fun in a race car in a long time." If I know Josh and his crew, it might be another short night of sleep, but for much different reasons!
The Hobby Stocks rounded out the evening as Matt Tucker and Dane Fenton swapped the lead in the first two laps with Tucker getting back out front for laps three and four before the caution waved. Late in the caution period Tucker's tire went flat and he hustled back to the pits to try to get it changed before the green flag returned. Fenton assumed the lead from there and when Ray Raker had to pay more attention to a challenge from Dan Wenig for his second spot, that was all that Fenton needed to go on and post his first career feature win. Raker held back Wenig for second, Tanner Thomann arrived late, started last and finished fourth while Michael Amenell moved past Jim Lynch on the final lap for fifth. Lynch held on for sixth despite running the final two laps with a flat tire.
Throw in a Candy Dash for a large throng of kids and the fact that the final checkered flag waved at 10:10 p.m. and you have even more reason to walk out of this one thinking, "that was really fun, I can't wait to do that again soon." And race fans will have two chances to catch the racing action at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson next week as on Thursday night the IMCA Modified Hawkeye Dirt Tour will roll into town along with the Stock Cars and Sport Mods for the 4th Annual Liberty Cup, then on Friday night the IMCA Late Models and 305 Sprint Cars will headline along with point racing for the Modifieds, Hobby Stocks and Wild Things.
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